


Home at last

by U_know_u_luv_me_99



Series: Missing You [3]
Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Fluff, Interviews, M/M, TW: Panic Attacks, a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 13:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5006116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/U_know_u_luv_me_99/pseuds/U_know_u_luv_me_99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'm not happy with the ending, but feel free to tell me what you think. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home at last

When the crew finally returned to Earth, they were swarmed by interviewers. Mark had the most media attention, of course, but the rest of the crew weren’t free from the questions either. They managed to mostly get interviews as a group, and they made it clear that Mark was never to be interviewed alone. He said he was fine, but the crew, and the psychologists at NASA, thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to have him reminisce about his time on Mars without support.  
It was one such interview, the whole crew together, and the interviewer was being particularly forceful. She was completely ignoring all the other members of the crew, barely a civil hello, before she turned all of her force onto Mark.  
“It must have been hard, being up there alone.”  
“I guess, I mainly kept myself busy. There wasn’t much time to think about it,” Mark answered, used to the question.  
“Yeah, but being all alone on a planet. You must have been lonely. Didn’t you miss your crewmates?”  
“Yeah, of course I did. These guys are my family. Sure, it was lonely, but I just didn’t dwell on it. As soon as I got on the ship, I was bawling and clinging to people like a baby. But, while I was on Mars, there wasn’t much time to think.”  
“So, you’re saying that you just got on with it. Pushed through the loneliness and just stopped missing them?” The crew were getting wary now. The interviewer wasn’t letting up, and there were only so many ways Mark could answer the same question.  
“I think what Mark’s saying is that he just kept himself busy to distract himself. We all did it. We missed him like hell, but we couldn’t let that stop us, we had work to do. We just had to get on with it,” Martinez answered instead of Mark. The woman turned to him with a glare that she badly covered with a thin smile.  
“Thank you,” she said. “So, Mark, your video logs have been released to the public.” Mark relaxed into his chair, happy that she seemed to have changed topic. “Is there anything missing from them?”  
Mark frowned. “What do you mean?” he asked.  
“I mean, were there any other videos not released to the public, anything that you chose to keep private?”  
“Only the private messages to these guys,” Mark said gesturing to the others. The interviewer hummed, sounding slightly disappointed. The interview continued like that, the woman shooting question after question at Mark, each one more and more personal. None of the questions were about survival, all of them were about Mark’s personal distress, and how miserable he must have been. The crew could tell that Mark was getting more and more upset, less and less able to answer the questions casually.  
Chris watched Mark carefully, and the moment he saw Mark begin to struggle for breath, he called it. “That’s it.” The interviewer, who had been in the middle of a question, looked at him in annoyance.  
“Excuse me?” Chris looked down at Mark again, but he wasn’t looking back. He was struggling for breath, and there were tears in his eyes.  
“I’m Mark’s doctor, and I can’t let you finish this interview. That’s it, we’re done.” Chris stood up, pulled Mark with him slowly and left the room. Mark was in full blown panic attack mode now, hyperventilating with tears streaming down his face. “It’s okay, Mark,” Chris murmured to him as they exited the building.  
Mark whimpered, and Chris swore. It was further than he had thought and he cursed at the fact that he had let it get this far. He led Mark to his car, and buckled him into the passenger’s seat.  
Chris began to drive back to the house that he was currently sharing with Mark. They had moved in together as soon as they returned to Earth, partially to help develop their relationship, partially because they’d been living together for years anyway in space, but mostly because Chris didn’t want Mark to be alone any more than he had to be.  
He talked softly the entire drive, holding Mark’s hand. Mark slowly calmed down, the vibrations of the car soothing him. By the time they reached their house, the attack had stopped and Mark was mostly breathing normally again. Chris helped Mark out of the car; he was still unsteady on his feet. They entered the house, Chris still leading Mark. He set him down in front of the television, turned it on and settled in next to him. Captain America was playing, and Chris snuggled up next to Mark as they began to watch in silence.  
Half way through the film, Mark turned to bury his face in Chris’s neck. “Thank you,” he whispered. Chris looked sadly at the man he loved, who was so different from the man he used to know, the man the public still saw. He didn’t love him any less, but it made him sad to see everything that Mark had lost.  
“No problem,” Chris replied in a murmur, kissing Mark’s hair lightly. His phone rang loudly, and Chris quickly pulled it out of his pocket and answered it. He hummed in greeting, sliding his fingers through Mark’s hair.  
“Beck,” Lewis replied, voice stern. “What the hell was that?”  
“You saw Mark,” Chris said softly. “He couldn’t keep going like that.”  
“I know, but you can’t just leave without telling us where you’re going.”  
“We’re home,” Chris said, looking down at Mark with a smile. “We’re just relaxing. Feel free to drop by.” Lewis agreed to come over with the rest of the crew, and they ended the call. “The crew’s coming,” Chris told Mark, and Mark smiled, happy to be among family.

**Author's Note:**

> Check me out on [tumblr](http://u-know-u-luv-me.tumblr.com/), and check my [writing](http://madoulgeris.weebly.com/) [blogs](http://fairytalesoftheworld.weebly.com/).


End file.
